A common feature of English concertina-fold almanacs – on display in our current exhibition Unfolding Time – are prognostics, texts and devices which helped predict the future. In this post, we will look at a particular prognostic that has come to be known as the sphere of life and death: a circular chart used to determine whether a sick person would recover or perish. Two examples are on display, one from a 14th-century concertina at the Bodleian, and another from a 16th-century astrological notebook in our own collection.
The spheres are a form of Onomancy: the art of predicting a person’s future based on their name. Fortunately for modern readers, some manuscripts provide detailed instructions on how to use them:
- Turn the patient’s name into a number. Each letter had a numerical value, which in the Lambeth example above are given in the two outermost circles of the diagram, with letters in black and their corresponding numbers in red. Bob, for example would be:
B (3) + O (9) + B (3) = 15 - Combine this number with calendrical information concerning the date the person fell ill.
- Divide the total by 30. If the remainder lands in the top half of the circle (and is one of the red numbers such as 1, 11, 20, 2, 13…), then recovery was on the horizon. If it landed in the bottom half (a black number such as 3, 6, 8…), they may not be so lucky.
The outcome of the calculation is vividly illustrated in the Bodleian version, which also includes instructions on its use. In the upper half of the sphere – representing life – Christ stands triumphant. Below, symbolizing death, a cloaked figure looms, with dragon-like creatures escaping from its mouth and head.
Want to learn more about these devices? See this excellent book published last year, which is available to read at the Library: Joanne Edge, Onomantic Divination in Late Medieval Britain: Questioning Life, Predicting Death (York Medieval Press, 2024).
Sarah Griffin, Assistant Archivist and curator of Unfolding Time
A Monument of Fame 